Hand-footholds for buckets, troughs, tubs, containers, redeptacles, and bins

ABSTRACT

A portable container containing internal pairs of foot-handholds located near the bottom of sloped or un-sloped container for the purpose of container stabilization by user/s feet and for bottom of container hand-grab capacity.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/390,304 filed on Apr. 22, 2019.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Field of the invention

Portable Containers

Description of Related Art

application Ser. No 16/385,995 and application Ser. No. 16/390,304

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Portable containers are often formed of lightweight materials such asplastic, which lacks the ballast needed to stabilize the container whenitems are added, removed, or when lids are lifted off. In theseinstances, the container has a tendency to tip over, which isinconvenient, messy, and potentially hazardous. Additionally, mostportable containers only have handles at the top of the container, whilefew are located at the bottom.

The present invention generally relates to sloped, portable containerdesign and, more particularly, to pairs of wall-orifice foot-handholds(different x, y wall planes, accessible to both feet of an individualuser or two or more feet of two or more users for the purpose ofhold-down capacity of the container via weight transference). For such acontainer, paired, extracted, or cut-out-of-the-wall orificefoot-handholds can be placed directly above the floor (in said x, y, zconfigurations) or below the floor of the container if containerssidewalls extend past the final floor of the container to create a baseportion upon which the container rests. In this scenario, one or moreextracted orifice foot-handholds are cut out of the walls of the baseportion, and, in some instances, enclosed internally within the bin toprevent contents from contacting user/s hand/s or feet.

The function of the foot-handholds in the same z plane of a container,either above or below a floor within the different walls of thecontainer, provides the strongest hold-down of the containers when oneor more users apply two or more feet to the foot-handholds. The handholdfunction allows for secure handling and maneuvering of the container,which are not usually found on lower sections of most containers.

The configuration of the pairs being in different wall planes willcreate a triangular touch point to the ground for a single useremploying both feet for weight transference and will prevent tipping ofcan towards user when removing or adding contents, beings, and lids, orwhen separating nested containers. This triangular touch-point is akinto a tripod stabilizing a camera, whereby when the user is handling it,there is little to no movement of the device. Two users operating a pairof foot-handholds in opposition or near opposition also creates thistriangular touch point to the ground and avoids the tipping ofcontainers towards either user. The added handhold element of afoot-handhold combination becomes invaluable when a single user needs tooverturn a bin to pour out contents and needs a lower grab point on thecontainer. This may also function as a tie-down location for when it isupright, flipped, or even on its side.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sample of a portable, rectangular container, as seen fromthe bottom orthogonally, with a pair of enclosed foot-handholds. Thiscontainer is sloped and has no base portion, just a single floor uponwhich it rests. The wall orifice and floor orifice are enclosed withinthe container. This enclosure is extruded into the container and ismolded to the floor and walls within the container. The pairs are not inthe same x or y plane, but are in the same z plane.

FIG. 2A is a portable, translucent, cylindrical container with more thanone pair of foot-handholds, as seen from the topside orthogonally. Thiscontainer is sloped and has no base portion, just a single floor uponwhich it rests. The wall orifices and floor orifices is enclosed withinthe container. The enclosure is extruded into the container and ismolded to the floor and walls within the container. The pairs are not inthe same x or y plane, but are in the same z plane.

FIG. 2B is a blow out of a clay prototype sample of just the foothold.

FIG. 2C is the same design, as seen from the top.

FIG. 3A is a translucent, cylindrical container with more than one pairof foot-handholds, as seen from the topside orthogonally. This enclosureis sloped and has no base portion, just a single floor upon which itrests. The wall orifices and upward floor indent is enclosed within thecontainer. This enclosure is extruded into the container and is moldedto the floor and walls within the container. The pairs are not in thesame x or y plane, but are in the same z plane.

FIG. 3B is the same design, as seen from the top.

FIG. 3C is a blow out of a clay prototype sample of just the foothold.

FIG. 4A is a translucent, cylindrical container with more than one pairof foot-handholds, as seen from the topside orthogonally. This containeris sloped and has no base portion, just a single floor upon which itrests. The extruded enclosure is modified to accommodate bars or handlesplaced at the intersection of the floor and wall in the enclosurerunning parallel to the ground where the orifices are otherwise locatedwith visible, optional grips that wrap around the handles or bars. Thepairs of foot-handholds are not in the same x or y plane, but are in thesame z plane.

FIG. 4B is the same design, as seen from side directly.

FIG. 4C is the same design, as seen from the top.

FIG. 5A is a translucent, cylindrical, mesh container with more than onepair of foot-handholds, as seen from the topside orthogonally. Thiscontainer is sloped and has no base portion, just a single floor uponwhich it rests. The wall and floor orifices have no enclosure to containthe orifices within the container. The pairs of foot-handholds are notin the same x or y plane, but are in the same z plane.

FIG. 5B is a translucent, cylindrical, mesh container with a corrugatedfloor more than one pair of foot-handholds, as seen from the topsideorthogonally. This container is sloped and has no base portion, just asingle floor upon which it rests. The wall and floor orifices have noenclosure to contain the orifices within the container. The pairs offoot-handholds are not in the same x or y plane, but are in the same zplane.

FIG. 6A is a square, sloped container with more than one pair offoot-handholds, as seen from the topside orthogonally. This container issloped and has a base portion upon which the container rests. The wallorifice foot-handhold is below a single-planed floor. The pairs are notin the same x or y wall plane. One wall is removed.

FIG. 6B is the same square container as FIG. 6A but viewed from the top.

FIG. 6C is a top view only of a round non-sloped container with pairedfootholds and concave enclosure.

FIG. 6D is a top view only of a triangular non-sloped container withpaired footholds, and concave enclosure in a triangular configuration.

FIG. 6E is a top view only of a rectangular non-sloped container withpaired footholds, and concave enclosure in a rectangular configuration.

FIG. 6F is a blow out of a clay prototype sample of just the foothold.

FIG. 7A is a translucent, round container with more than one pair offoot-handholds, as seen from the topside orthogonally. This container issloped and has a base portion upon which the container rests. The wallorifice foot-handhold is below a corrugated floor. This floor risesabove the foothold and curves over the foot-handhold and falls towardsthe ground, providing potential contact points with the ground andcontinuing around the inside walls over each foothold. The pairs are notin the same x or y wall plane in the base portion, but are in the same zplane in the base portion. They are configured to receive the frontportion of two feet of one person or more than two feet of two or morepeople for the purpose of stability via weight transference to thecontainer, as well as functional handholds for lifting practicality.

FIG. 7B is another side view of FIG. 7A.

FIG. 7C is a top view of FIGS. 7A and 7B.

FIG. 7D is a square container with more than one pair of foot-handholds,as seen from the topside orthogonally. This container is sloped and hasa base portion upon which the container rests. The wall orificefoot-handhold is below a corrugated floor. The floor rises above thefoothold and curves over the foot-handhold and falls towards the ground,providing potential contact points with the ground and continuing aroundthe inside walls over each foothold. The pairs are not in the same x ory wall plane in the base portion, but are in the same z plane in thebase portion. They are configured to receive the front portion of twofeet of one person or more than two feet of two or more people for thepurpose of stability via weight transference to the container, as wellas functional handholds for lifting practicality.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The use of paired foot-handholds in portable containers of all types hassignificance for the following reasons:

For a trash bag which is vacuumed sealed to the inside of a trashreceptacle;

For two or more containers which are nested together and cannot beseparated;

For the removal a tight fitting lid from portable buckets and trashreceptacles;

For the removal of living beings from portable tubs, such as a dog orcat, farm animal, or a bathing, slippery baby;

For the addition or removal of slippery food items, such as liveseafood, from large food safe containers;

For having only one available hand to use when engaging with containercontents;

For placing long or top-heavy objects into containers, while trying tobalance said objects;

To avoid touching an unsanitary container;

To avoid touching an extremely hot or extremely cold container;

To avoid touching a hazardous or reactive container;

For tying down the container when it is top-heavy;

For having a lower grab-point of the container when flipping a heavycontainer over;

For two or more people needing to lift a container on their shoulders;

For needing general tie down locations, beyond possible handles oncontainer rims at the top of a container;

For adding poles or through-bars to foot-handhold orifices;

For hanging a container upside down to dry or to remove contents.

To have clamp locations at the bottom of a container and other uses notcurrently thought of or expressed.

Without foot-handholds that allow a single user to hold the bottombucket in place with foot or feet, or two users to hold a containerdown, or one or two users to grip the foot-handholds, a single user isleft to stabilized container by placing said container between theuser's knees or feet, bang container against other objects to loosencontents or lid, flip container on its side and sit on the container tohold it in place while extracting contents, lids, or beings, or to callupon a second user to help with operation. Needless to say, this can beunsanitary, messy and unsafe, potentially resulting in container damage.For example, a user may be working with hot potash container and may notbe able to remove the lid without the aid of her feet to hold downcontainer. Often, when such above scenario exists, a user is forced toplace the bucket between her knees and squeeze her knees together inhopes of securing the bucket while removing the lid. The jostling ofthis activity creates micro movements, which, when lid is lifted, spewsa plume of ash rising into the user's face. If done while hot, legs canget burned while squeezing or when embers spill out due to the forcefulnature of removing such a tight fitting lid. A user in a very coldclimate will not be able to manipulate a container, such a metal bucket,without severe pain to the hands as there may not be enough friction tohold the container if there are no foot-handholds. A user may have tosit on a container to remove a second nested container. In allscenarios, a spill-out potential of contents often occurs, which can bemessy and potentially hazardous. Two feet in different x and y planesare the best solution to steadying a container, and the additionalbenefit of handholds provide a more functional container overall.

For disabled persons, having footholds will prove useful if thedisability is related to one or both arms. For users carrying a bag tothe outdoor trash bin, being able to step into the footholds to lift thelid with one hand while holding the trash bag with the other becomesintegral. In some instances, having footholds frees up both hands foreasier use. Nestable containers are the most common shape of portablecontainers since shipping and storing of two or more container frees upfloor or shelf space in trucks, warehouses, homes, and businesses.Because of this, nestable containers are the preferred embodiment thatcontains foot-handholds. The foot-handhold combination near, directlyabove, or directly below a container's floor solves thenesting-separation issues created by the friction between two or morenested containers. A single user employing foot-handholds with his feetcan separate the containers alone or with a second person employing thefoot-handhold the containers with his or her hands. While this isaddressed in the original application Ser. No. 16/390,304 Hetzel, theideal configuration or preferred embodiment is in the foot-handholdpairing being in the same z-axis but in different x- and y-axis in asloped, portable container. While footholds are shown in x or y planesin the original Hetzel drawings, it was not explicitly stated in theclaims or in the specifications, but rather implied. By foot-handholdsbeing in separate wall planes when two feet of a single user areengaged, the user avoids the tipping effect toward the user that occurswhen using only a single foot or when using two footholds in the sameplane. Additionally, while some footholds can act as handholds, theydon't always solve the problem of tipping as in Boover U.S. Pat. No.5,690247. The addition of various grips, like an upward indent, atwo-orifice through-grab, or a handle bar grip, give current Hetzelfootholds more function with the addition of hand utility.

Finally, the foot-handhold orifices in the perimeter walls of the baseportion of a container, as defined in Hetzel's claims 17-20 FIGS. 6A-6F,7A-7D, creates a base portion that is a bit higher than current baseportions designed on the market today. This increased height in the baseportion is needed to accommodate a plurality of footholds. A wider orhigher container would have to be made to make up for volume losscreated by the additional height in the base portion. A change to thefloor shape will mitigate this problem and provides structural integrityto the floor as byproduct. Depending on floor corrugation, thecontainer's base portion and floor can support the container together.

The current patents are known to provide a plurality of recesses aroundthe rim of the bottom wall of a container to receive the forward part ofthe foot or feet of a user above a floor. For example, U.S. Pat. No.4,666,054 to Jaicks issued May 19, 1987, where bottom recesses allow auser to hold the container with one or both feet while screwing the lid.However, Jaikes and all other cited patents do not have walls adjacentto the final floor, which extend past the floor to make a base portionbelow said floor. This appears only in Hetzel's application (pending6-1016/390,304) figures and claims. Furthermore, Jaikes does not includethe handhold element described herein. While Jaicks' design solves thisissue, Jaick's patent does not address or detail this issuespecifically.

Timm's U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,303 is useful for two users but does notavoid the tipping effect caused by a single operator, as a single usercannot use both feet in this configuration. Hetzel's application(pending 16/16/390,304) addresses two feet of a single user in the claimand all previous figures, and if not obvious, is claimed again. Inaddition to what was claimed in the previous application, thesecontinuation-in-part footholds now double as handholds in allembodiments. Finally, since Hetzel's application (FIGS. 6-10 of pending16/16/390,304) already work as a handhold, these foot-handhold featureswill be an improvement by a new feature of a corrugated floor in whichthe higher corrugated sections of the floor will wrap over the footholdand return towards the ground, keeping the foot-handhold outside of thecontainers content space. This results in a structural improvement tothe base portion as well, if the lower portion of the corrugated flooris in contact with the ground.

What is needed to improve upon Hetzel's above the floor wall footholddesign is to add a smaller bottom orifice (7) into the enclosedfoot-handholds' floor. This will result is a foothold that doubles as ahandle, wherein fingers can go through the foothold's orifice in thesidewall and bend downwards, extending through the smaller enclosedfloor orifice which has been cut out of the floor in this region. Thefingers and thumb would be able to interlace, wrapping securely aroundthe foot-handhold.

In the case of an upward indent design 7, such as FIG. 3A, the floor ofthe footholds in the enclosed orifice below the bin becomes agrab-point. The indent can be slight as to just receive the usersfingertips.

Thirdly, a bar can be added to a foot-handhold enclosure in lieu of sideand floor wall. By removing the sidewall and floor in just the enclosurearea, there is now place for a bar to be inserted. The enclosure cavitywill contain a bar at the intersection of the floor and wall, in theplane as the floor. This handle can have a grip that can spin around thebar for rotational purposes of the bin. This handle is similar to Ulfnerand Bitsch, but for the dual purpose of a hold down and to use as ahandle, and not for garbage truck mechanical purposes.

The purpose of the first three new embodiments is to provide a containerwith foot-handholds that allows a user to stabilize the container withone foot or the preferred embodiment of both feet to avoid containertipping, and at the same time providing a handhold all while notobstructing the nesting of containers.

In the last embodiment offered, the floor of the container is moldedabove the orifice foot-handholds in such a manner so as to reduce heightof the container and not reduce volume within.

When the foot-handholds are simple orifices, they can go below the floorin a base portion upon which a container rests or directly above thefloor upon which a container rests. When above a solid container, thewall orifices must be enclosed within the container to avoid spill-outof contents since the orifice is directly above the floor of thecontainer.

In all cases, a plurality of wall orifice foot-handholds are spaced inpairs around the bottom sidewalls of the container as a function ofcontainer shape, such that at least two footholds present themselves foruse at the same time for both feet of a single operator or two or morefeet or two or more operators, located directly above the floor of thecontainer.

1. A portable container configured to hold material, comprising of; afloor upon which said container rests; at least one wall having a lowerportion attached to the circumference of said floor, so as to establishan enclosed area for holding material above said floor, and; at leasttwo wall orifice footholds, cut out of said wall directly above thefloor in the same z plane, spaced around a periphery of said wall atdifferent x and y axis of said container, each configured to receive thedistal ends of at least two feet of one person for full or partialweight transference from the operator, for the purpose of containerstabilization and; each said wall orifice has a corresponding concaveenclosure encapsulating said orifice, projecting within said containerholding material area, attached to interior side of said wall above andalong sides of the said orifice and dropping vertically to said floorand attaching to said interior floor for the purpose of covering thedistal end of the users foot.
 2. The container of claim 1 wherein atleast one wall comprises a plurality of walls.
 3. The container of claim1 wherein a plurality of orifice footholds are oppositionally placed insaid wall locations for the purpose of two or more operators' feet. 4.wherein the container of claim 2 has a secondary, smaller and narrowerfloor orifice cut out from the floor within the container orificeenclosure for the purpose of creating a grab-through for a user hand ofboth orifices within the orifice enclosure, creating a foot-handhold. 5.wherein the container of claim 3 has a secondary, smaller and narrowerfloor orifice cut out from the floor within the container orificeenclosure for the purpose of creating a grab-through for a user hand ofboth orifices within the orifice enclosure, creating a foot-handhold. 6.wherein container of claim 2 has an upwards indent in said enclosures'floor for the purpose of a fingertip friction grab, creating afoot-handhold.
 7. wherein container of claim 3 has an upwards indent insaid orifice enclosures' floor for the purpose of a fingertip frictiongrab, creating a foot-handhold.
 8. wherein the container of claim 2 hassaid foothold enclosures within the container with the removal of theexterior floor and wall material in the foothold enclosures, resultingin a cavity within each foothold enclosure with an added bar runningparallel and in contact with the ground connected at the most exteriorleft and right floor and wall intersections, creating a foot-handhold.9. wherein the container of claim 3 has said foothold enclosures withinthe container with the removal the exterior floor and wall material inthe foothold enclosures, resulting in a cavity within each footholdenclosure with an added bar running parallel and in contact with theground connected at the most exterior left and right floor and wallintersections, creating a foot-handhold.
 10. wherein the container ofclaim 8 has grip material encapsulating said bar.
 11. wherein thecontainer of claim 9 has grip material encapsulating said bar.
 12. Aportable container configured to hold material, comprising of; a floor;at least one wall having a lower portion attached to the circumferenceof the said floor, so as to establish an enclosed area for holdingmaterial above said floor, wherein at least one wall extends below thefloor establishing a base portion upon which the container rests, and;at least two wall orifice footholds, cut out of said wall below thefloor, in the same z plane, spaced around a periphery of said wall atdifferent x and y axis of said container, each configured to receive thedistal ends of at least two feet of one person for full or partialweight transference from the operator, for the purpose of containerstabilization.
 13. The container of claim 12, wherein at least one wallcomprises a plurality of walls.
 14. The container of claim 12, wherein aplurality of orifice footholds are oppositionally placed in said walllocations for the purpose of two or more operators' feet.
 15. Thecontainer of claim 13, has a corrugated floor which rises and fallsaround said wall orifice foot-handholds to keep said orifice below andnot within content area of container.
 16. The container of claim 14 hasa corrugated floor which rises and falls around said wall orificefoot-handholds to keep said orifice below and not within content area ofcontainer.
 17. A portable mesh container configured to hold material,comprising of; a floor upon which container rests; at least one wallhaving a lower portion attached to the circumference of said floor, soas to establish an enclosed area for holding material above said floor,and; at least two wall orifice footholds, cut out of said wall directlyabove the floor, in the same z plane, spaced around a periphery of thesaid wall, at different x and y axis of said container, each configuredto receive the distal ends of at least two feet of one person for fullor partial weight transference from the operator, for the purpose ofcontainer stabilization.
 18. The container of claim 17, wherein at leastone wall comprises a plurality of walls.
 19. The containers of claim 17,wherein a plurality of orifice footholds are oppositionally placed insaid wall locations for the purpose of two or more operators' feet.